From: lmccarth@cs.umass.edu
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 19:50:53 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com (Cypherpunks Mailing List)
Subject: Re: A Cyberspace Independence Refutation
Message-ID: <199602121136.GAA08106@opine.cs.umass.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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(I agree with nearly everything in Strata's "Refutation" essay. In 
particular, I find his comments on the net.pundits' hypocrisy about net.bias
and prejudice to be extremely accurate.)

James Donald writes:
[...various points about "cohesion"...]
> In an all out knock down battle between a particular government and the
> internet, in a state where a substantial proportion of the middle class
> was on the internet, the government would be in serious danger of 
> evaporating like a jellyfish in the sunshine.

I'm afraid I'm not willing to take this on faith. Strata made some good
observations about the tangible vulnerability of the net-as-we-know-it to
government intervention. If you'd like to try to rebut some of his arguments
a bit more specifically, I'd be very interested in reading about it.

-Lewis	"You're always disappointed, nothing seems to keep you high -- drive 
	your bargains, push your papers, win your medals, fuck your strangers;
	don't it leave you on the empty side ?"  (Joni Mitchell, 1972)